Normally, it would be unethical and wholly immoral for a journalist to promote themselves in their coverage. Right now, I am breaking that rule to promote my NFT drop. My first drop is a 9/9 oil on canvas painting. This should certainly make you cringe – UNTIL you realize that it’s for charity. 

100% of the proceeds go to victims of the Atlanta Shootings that occurred on March 16, 2021, and to their families. On Thursday, March 18, a couple of days after the tragedy, I was in a #StopAsianHate room on Clubhouse that was raising money for the victims and their families. On a tight budget and overcome with emotion, I donated $10 and sat in my room thinking about the tragedy, wishing I could do more. Then… I realized that I could do more! I could paint; I could make music; I could be creative; I could pick up a few tools – a brush, a canvas, a bit of paint – and make something from nothing.

I made my donation at 7:23 PM EST (March 18, 2021), began painting at 7:30, and three and a half hours later I announced to the Clubhouse room that I’d finished my painting and that I would be donating 100% of the proceeds to the Asian Americans Advancing Justice (AAAJ) nonprofit organization’s fund created for the victims and the families they’d involuntarily left behind. Even though I’m not an Asian American, I wanted to put together a video that would promote the art piece while also honoring the victims. I used my begintermediate Adobe Premiere Pro skills to put together a short video. It took quite a bit of time (several hours), and yesterday I minted the NFT at 5 PM EST and have sold the equivalent of $600 thus far. 

The painting is titled “A Family of Strangers” because of the amazing support so many strangers have shown over the past few days, the type of support you’d see from a family member. The NFT community of Clubhouse is a family of strangers, less and less so every day. I look forward to writing about other artists’ genesis drops – Thank you for reading!